LGBTQ Victory Fund Played Integral Role Training and Endorsing Members While Working to Unseat Pennsylvania’s Chief Anti-LGBTQ Legislator in 2018
Harrisburg, PA – On Monday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf named 40 members to the nation’s first statewide Commission on LGBTQ Affairs, including Victory Fund Political Director Sean Meloy and former Victory Fund board member, State Representative Brian Sims.
“I want to commend Governor Tom Wolf for creating the LGBTQ Affairs Commission today. Governor Wolf has proven time and time again that he is a great ally for and champion of LGBTQ Pennsylvanians, and we are a more fair and equal commonwealth under his leadership,” Sean Meloy said. “But we still have work to do. Pennsylvania is still the only state in the Northeast without LGBTQ non-discrimination protections, and anti-equality legislators in Harrisburg like Daryl Metcalfe continue to block any legislation that would allow any progress on these issues.
Victory Fund is working hard to elect Dan Smith, who is taking on Daryl Metcalfe for his position in the PA State House. Beyond blocking all pro-equality legislation from moving through the Committee he chairs, Metcalfe has garnered national attention for multiple homophobic outbursts – most recently calling the only LGBTQ state legislator a ‘lying homosexual.’ Melcalfe is a principle reason this Advisory Commission is necessary in the first place, as Pennsylvania lacks significant protections and the bigoted language he uses continues to foment anti-LGBTQ hate in the Commonwealth
The commission also includes a number of past and present Victory Fund endorsees and LGBTQ elected officials:
- Ben Allatt, Harrisburg City Councilor, endorsed by Victory Fund during his runs for Harrisburg City Council
- Tyler Titus, Erie School Board Member and the first transgender elected official in Pennsylvania, endorsed in 2017
- Malcolm Kenyatta, 2018 “Spotlight” candidate poised to be elected to PA State House of Representatives, the second ever in PA history
- Kristin Seale, 2018 Victory “Spotlight” endorsee for PA House of Representatives and member of the Rose Tree Media School District Board of Directors
- Henry Sias, 2017 endorsee for Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas
- Mark Barbee, Mayor of Bridgeport
- Sean Strub, Mayor of Milford
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LGBTQ Victory Fund
LGBTQ Victory Fund works to change the face and voice of America’s politics and achieve equality for LGBTQ Americans by increasing the number of openly LGBTQ elected officials at all levels of government.
victoryfund.org
* Game Changer status is awarded to candidates with the potential to have an outsized impact on equality at the federal level. Spotlight status is a designation given to state or local candidates in history-making races and comes with additional support and services from Victory Fund to ensure they win on Election Day.
